One of Spain's leading design firms, Cases i Associats, is to open a London
office as a hub for further international expansion.

The company, which specialises in redesigning newspapers and magazines, has overhauled The Independent and the Daily Mirror in the past and now wants to build its UK business further.

It also plans to use the new office, which opens in Shoreditch on Friday, to win business from clients in India and China who are more likely to travel through London than through Barcelona, where Cases is headquartered.

The company has appointed the Mirror’s former digital chief, Matt Kelly, to lead the UK operation, in which he will have a minority stake. It expects to recruit more than 10 additional staff by the end of the year.

Mr Kelly told the Telegraph that the UK has traditionally regarded itself as one of the most innovative newspaper markets in the world, but that British titles still have a lot to learn from those in Latin America, where Cases already has a substantial business.

“They are more colourful and way ahead of [some UK newspapers] in terms of infographics and analysis,” he said.

Many newspapers and magazines in the region are also better equipped for the digital age than their UK counterparts, because they launched later and are not trying to adapt from before the advent of the internet, he added.

As well as producing designs for websites and physical publications, Cases helps to plan out newsrooms to ensure they are efficient.

Mr Kelly said the practices employed by traditional newspapers and magazines will also be of use to retailers, sports clubs and banks, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated content publishers in their own right.

“Football clubs online are well down the road of seeing themselves as publishers. They do not see content as a vanity project. They see it as an absolute necessity to capture and engage with their audience. On the last day of the [footballer] transfer window, it becomes a news site," he said.